Games publisher Ubisoft saw sales of games reach new highs this year, but found investment into next-gen software costly. Sales for the year, which are going through a slump because of the transition to next generation hardware, were posted at 547.1 million Euro, up 3 per cent on the same period a year earlier. Annual income fell though to 11.9 million Euro, compared to 24.7 million the previous year.
Even more worrying was that the operating income was just 0.4 million Euro, a considerable drop from last years 33.5 million Euro income. Not all has been bad for Ubisoft this year, they produced the fantastic Tom Clancy"s Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter which accounted for 20% of software sales on the Xbox360.
Next year Ubisoft expect a sales growth of between 5-10 percent, boosted by the launch of both Sony and Nintendo"s new consoles. Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot commented: "The investments made in the last two years will enable us to launch 5 new brands and new Hollywood licenses. In this context, the pre-tax operating profit before stock options should show a very strong improvement."